The city unexpectedly lost Harold Washington — its first Black mayor — 35 years ago today, Chicago.
Tribune reporter Robert Davis noted Washington left “an indelible imprint on political history but an uncertain future for the city he had just begun to control.”
Washington — who vowed to serve the city in that position for 20 years — was stricken by a heart attack while sitting at his desk just nine months after winning reelection to a second term and with a majority of the city’s 50 aldermen finally working with him. He was pronounced dead at 1:36 p.m. on Nov. 25, 1987.
Earlier this year, the city marked the 100th anniversary of Washington’s birth. Here are some key things to know about his life:
Deep Chicago roots: Washington was born on April 15, 1922, at Cook County Hospital, grew up in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood and was among the first graduates of DuSable High School after it opened in 1935, catering primarily to Blacks whose families or ancestors had come to Chicago from the American South during the Great Migration.
He rose through the Democratic machine’s ranks — then aimed to dismantle it: In the early 1950s, Washington, then a law student at Northwestern University, started working for 3rd Ward Ald. Ralph Metcalfe, a former Olympian who was later elected to Congress. Washington rose through the Democratic machine ranks, eventually winning election to the Illinois House in 1965, to the state Senate in 1976 and — despite a short stint in jail in the early 1970s for failing to file a tax return — to Congress in 1980. But along the way, he increasingly asserted his independence against the machine and, as then-Mayor Jane Byrne steadily lost the support of many Blacks who’d backed her, Washington was encouraged to run for the city’s top job. In a stunner, Washington won the Democratic primary, not only beating the incumbent but another opponent by the name of Richard M. Daley, son of the late mayor who himself had at times encouraged Metcalfe to dump Washington. In the general election, Washington went on to defeat Republican Bernie Epton, despite Epton’s support from many high-ranking Democrats, some of whom tried to stoke racist fears in white neighborhoods about the prospects of a Black mayor. In his “combative” inaugural address, the new mayor “proclaim(ed) the death knell of the Democratic machine,” the Tribune wrote at the time.
One of his main rivals remains on the City Council: Washington’s early years in office were marked by the racially heated “Council Wars” with old-line opponents who, embittered by his victory, formed a white majority at the City Council behind Ald. Ed Vrdolyak to thwart the mayor’s agenda. This led to court battles and an “alternative” city budget. And in September 1983, “one of the most tumultuous council meetings in years, Vrdolyak questions Washington’s manhood and the mayor threatens to punch him in the mouth,” the Tribune reported two years later. After that, the Tribune also noted, Vrdolyak lowered his profile in the Council Wars, “letting his ally, Ald. Edward Burke, take the public lead in challenging the mayor.” In 1984, for example, Burke attempted to remove Washington from office when he failed to file an ethics form on time. Burke is now the longest-serving alderman on the council. But in 2019, shortly after marking 50 years on the council, he was charged with attempted extortion. Burke is still awaiting trial.
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— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
Photo gallery: Washington’s life and career
See highlights from Washington’s service to Chicago through the eyes of Tribune photographers. See more.
April 12, 1983: An historic election
Other black politicians had run for the office of Chicago mayor before. Most of those past campaigns had been quixotic, symbolic, and, in the end, futile. But things were different in 1983. Read more.
Chicago’s Council Wars pitted defiant white aldermen against a reform-minded Washington
The ushering in of Washington as Chicago’s first black mayor did not sit well with the old guard. A revolt was inevitable. Read more.
Photo gallery: Chicago’s Council Wars pitted defiant white aldermen against a reform-minded Washington
March 7, 1985: Washington encourages ‘equal access by all persons’ to city services, licenses
Washington signs an executive order ending the city’s practice of asking job and license applicants about their U.S. citizenship and halting cooperation by city agencies with federal immigration authorities. Read more.
Timeline: Chicago’s 40-year history as a sanctuary city
April 7, 1987: Elected to a second term
Washington narrowly defeated former mayor Jane Byrne in the primary before becoming the first Chicago mayor in a dozen years to win reelection. And he now had more supporters on Chicago’s City Council — 27 out of 50 seats.
“We celebrate tonight not the victory of one candidate, but a mandate for a movement,” he told a jubilant crowd at Navy Pier. Read more.
Nov. 25, 1987: Washington’s death stuns the city
On hearing of Washington’s death, one mourner in Daley Plaza cried, “He wasn’t finished.” In the days that followed, the city came together as it never really had when he was alive. Read more.
Mike Royko: Mayor ignored warning signs
From Chicago Magazine: An oral history of recollections from the day Washington died
‘We loved him so much’
To many Chicagoans, the election of a black mayor still seemed as miraculous on the day Washington died — Nov. 25, 1987 — as it had on the night when the ballots were counted on April 12, 1983. Read more.
Paul Sullivan: My 40-year Chicago Tribune anniversary rekindles memories of some of the most interesting figures I’ve met along the way, from Mike Royko to Carlos Zambrano to Washington
Rick Kogan: Joe Winston captures the complex and charismatic Washington in his film ‘Punch 9’
There have been, in the city’s long and politically colorful history, 56 mayors, drawn to the job for various reasons, venal and admirable. Few of them, Kogan argues, were as fascinating or important as Washington, the city’s 51st mayor. Read more.
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